The Bridges You've Crossed
by twinkle.of.a.fading.star
Summary: "I said let her go!" Fiyero shouts, "or explain to all Oz how the Wizard's guards watched while Glinda the Good was slain." ...A single shot rings out, echoing across the fields and causing the crows to flee better than any scarecrow ever could. There are some moments throughout a life that changes absolutely everything. Musical-verse AU
1. Chapter 1

**So, in the midst of being driven crazy by scholarships and my senior year of high school and more stress in these past few weeks than I've had in my entire life thus far, this hits me. Like…a bizarre and unexpected twister of fate.**

**Disclaimer- I promise, I don't own Wicked. **

Deep in the forest on the outskirts of The Emerald City two figures worked their way through the darkness. If anyone were to see this pair up close, they would be shocked to realize it is the Gale Force's Captain of the Guard, and The Wicked Witch of the West.

Scandalacious, isn't it?

Elphaba knew this. Elphaba knew that, within the hour, Fiyero would be a wanted man. The entire Gale Force would be searching for them both, more than ready to rid Oz of the traitor and the witch.

She had known that Fiyero was brainless from the moment she met him, from the moment he began dancing through the courtyard of Shiz University. Still, she couldn't believe that he was foolish enough to risk his life for her. She couldn't believe he was foolish enough to give his heart to her. She couldn't believe she was foolish enough to give him hers in return.

"We should be safe here, for now." Fiyero is saying. He stops and turns to face her. Elphaba looks around, realizing that they have stop just on the edge of a clearing.

"How do you know that?" She jokes, smiling at him, "I'm the one that's been on the run for three years, what would you know of hiding? Playing hide-and-seek in your palace?"

He laughs. In that moment Elphaba swears his laugh could brighten The Emerald City. "Yes actually, and I was always very good at it. I think that completely qualifies me for this."

Elphaba's smile fades, "Why would you do this Fiyero? Why would you give up your life for me? Why would you-"

Fiyero steps closer to her, "It wasn't a very good life without you. Every day I just kept wondering where you were and if you were safe. At least this way I can keep better tabs on you."

Elphaba lowers herself to the ground, thankful she can temporarily rest. "Well, congratulotions Captain of the Guard. You found the Wicked Witch of the West."

"You aren't wicked,"

"I pretty sure that there are plenty of people who would disagree with you,"

Fiyero sits down beside her, putting a hand on either side of her face. "You _aren't _wicked Elphaba." He closes the space between them, pressing his lips to hers. Almost immediately, Elphaba pulls away in shock.

"What's wrong?" Fiyero whispers. How can she possibly explain to him that that was her first kiss? How could she possibly explain to him the risk he was taking, falling in love with her?

She can't, "Fiyero, I can't believe you're here." She really can't. Not even her wildest dreams could have anticipated that Fiyero Tiggular would want her. Part of her had always believed that she was not worthy of love. She never imagined she would find Fiyero, who is slowly proving her wrong.

Fiyero kisses her again, "I am, and I'm not going anywhere."

"They're going to come after us."

"Let them. We're going to get through this together."

She wishes that she could believe him, more than anything. But, she knows, happily ever after does not exist. Not for her. "Fiyero, I'm not Glinda. I can't promise you forever. I can barely promise you tomorrow."

"That's alright,"

"It isn't alright,"

"Elphaba, even if we only have tonight. Even if we only have this moment right here, as long as you're mine it's worth it."

Elphaba kisses him then, and in that kiss is everything she never even knew that she wanted. She loves him, she realizes. Oh, she loves him. Suddenly, she feels a pang of guilt. Glinda had told her from the first day Glinda and Fiyero met that the two of them were going to be married. Glinda had spent hours in their dorm room at Shiz designing her wedding dress and choosing bridesmaids and designing her bouquet. Glinda and Fiyero had been _engaged_ for Oz sake.

Now, Elphaba and Fiyero were kissing in the middle of a forest. She couldn't imagine how heartbroken her best friend was. She feels terrible. She feels horrendible. She feels-

She laughs. It is the first time, Elphaba knows, she has laughed since before she defied The Wizard, as inappropriate as it feels right now.

"What is it?"

"Nothing, it's just…for the first time…I _feel_ wicked."

_Elphaba! _

The voice rings out through the forest, reminding Elphaba that there was a world outside of this moment. "Fiyero…do you hear that?"

"It's just the wind,"

Elphaba shakes her head, and then hears it again; someone desperately screaming her name. She swears that it sounds exactly like Nessa. "My sister is in danger."

"What? How do you know that?"

"I don't know, I just do." She does not know how to explain to him, but she feels it, instinct or magic or something else entirely warning her that Nessa is in terrible, terrible danger. She looks up then, just in time to see it. A house, flying, falling, freely through the sky. "Did you see that?"

"What, what is it?"

"Didn't you see it?"

"What do you mean? What do you see?"

"It doesn't make any sense... It's a house but it's... its flying through the sky." Elphaba stands, grabbing her broom and her satchel. "I have to go to Nessa."

"I'll come with you,"

"Fiyero you can't. It's too dangerous." _I might lose Nessa, I can't lose you too._

"Listen to me. My family has a castle in Kiamo Ko. No one is ever there except for the sentries who watch over it. We've never lived there."

"Where do you live?"

"In the other castle... It's the perfect hiding place; tunnels, secret passageways. You'll be safe there."

Safe. Elphaba had almost forgotten what that word means. "We will see each other again, won't we?"

"Elphaba, we are going to be together always. You can see houses flying through the sky, can't you see that?"

She could. Almost. In her mind's eye she saw herself and Fiyero together, away from all of this. Somewhere where the two of them did not have to run or hide or worry about being captured or torn apart. She wanted it more than anything, but right now none of that mattered.

She had to protect her sister.

**I tried to emulate the feeling of As Long As You're Mine without just quoting the song and putting a little prose with it. Sorry I cut some stuff. I hope you all liked this first chapter. **

**The plot doesn't really start until the second chapter, which is in the works right now. I'll try and have it up by tomorrow. Review if you want. Constructive criticism is always welcome. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Oh my goodness, I am so sorry that this took a year and a half! **

**Disclaimer- I didn't own Wicked during the first chapter, I did not gain the rights during the process of writing this one. **

Nessa was dead.

That thought reverberated through Elphaba's mind, the only thought she could pin down and focus on. It hurt. It hurt like nothing else ever had, essentially because she blamed herself. She had promised her father and her mother just hours before she died, that she would always look after Nessarose. She had always taken care of her sister, had always protected her sister, and now her sister was gone. She had failed Nessa.

She would have done anything, would have given up everything, if it meant having her sister back.

But, her sister was dead, crushed by the house of some incompetent little pigtailed farm girl who was currently skipping down the Yellow Brick Road wearing Nessa's shoes. Elphaba had arrived too late to save Nessa. Now, she wanted the jeweled slippers not for the power they had, as many would probably grow to believe, but to cling to the memories they held. Nessa had loved those shoes, and they had given her the thing she had always wanted; the ability to walk.

That girl had absolutely no right to them. Glinda had no right to give them to her. If the situation were reversed, no matter how she loved Fiyero, Elphaba would have never sunk that low. Now, Elphaba is hidden within the cornfield, with a perfect view of the place where her sister died, and of Glinda pretending to mourn Nessa. She watched as her best friend, her former best friend she reminds herself, lays flowers near the spot where Nessa had died.

"What a touching display of grief," Elphaba says, finally stepping out and revealing herself. She wishes, selfishly, that Fiyero were with her. He was the only person that could get her through all of this.

"I don't believe we have anything else to say to one another," Glinda says.

I beg to differ Ms. Glinda, Elphaba thinks this is far from over. "I wanted something to remember her by, and all that was left of her were those shoes! And now, that wretched little farm girl has walked off with them." She screams, realizing how dangerous that could be. Only minutes ago this area had been filled with Munchkinlanders, celebrating the death of the Wicked Witch of the East. Anyone would be quick to report her to the Gale Force. Elphaba is surprised to find that she almost no longer cares. "So," she says to Glinda, "if you don't mind I would like some time alone…to say goodbye to my sister."

Elphaba falls to her knees, now shaking with grief. "Nessa…Nessa please forgive me."

"Elphie…" Glinda is still here. "Don't blame yourself. It's dreadful, it is, to have a house fall on you but…accidents will happen."

Elphaba looks at the blonde in total shock. "You call this…an accident?"

"Yes! Well, maybe not an accident."

"Well, what would you call it?"

"A regime change! Caused by a bizarre and unexpected twister of fate."

Had Glinda spent so much time being perky and encouraging for the citizens of Oz that she forgot how to carry on a serious conversation? "So, you think cyclones jus appear out of the blue?"

"Well, I don't know, I never-"

"No, of course you never! You're too busy telling everyone how wonder everything is."

"I'm a public figure now. People expect me-"

"To lie?" And she was, every word out of her mouth was nothing but a lie.

"To be encouraging! And what have you been doing besides riding around on that filthy old thing?" Glinda says, angrily gesturing to Elphaba long dilapidated broom.

We can't all be you, Glinda. We can't all have everything handed to us, we can't all have the ability to ignore what we know is right and follow the crowd in order to maintain our flawless reputation. Elphaba doesn't say any of this, instead the very Glinda-esque thing that comes out of her mouth surprises even her. "Well, we can't all come and go by bubble!" An absolutely ridiculous thing, at least her broom was inconspicuous. "Whose invention was that, the Wizard's? Of course, even if it wasn't, I'm sure he'd still take credit for it."

"Yes well, it seems a lot of us are taking things that don't belong to us, aren't we?"

It takes Elphaba a moment to realize what Glinda means. Fiyero. "Now wait just a clock tick. I know it's difficult for that blissful blond brain of yours to comprehend that someone like him could actually choose someone like me." She steps closer to Glinda, reveling in every word "But it's happened. It's real. And you can wave that ridiculous wand all you want, you can't change it! He never belonged to you. He doesn't love you and he never did! He loves me."

Glinda slaps her. Glinda, Elphaba is dying to say through the sting of pain, why couldn't you have stayed calm for once, instead of flying off the handle! But, she has just finished one tirade so she just laughs. It is nothing like the childish way she laughed with Fiyero just hours before, it is a merciless sound that would currently chill most Ozian's to the bone. Glinda doesn't look intimidated though, the blonde is currently staring at Elphaba like she has grown a second head.

"Feel better now?" Elphaba says,

"Yes," Glinda smirks, "I do,"

"Good," Elphaba says, striking Glinda across the face. "So do I," Before she knows it they're fighting, Glinda twirling her wand like a baton and ripping Elphaba's hat off of her head. This rivals Fiyero loving her as the most unexpected thing that has ever happened to Elphaba Thropp. Even back at Shiz, when she and Glinda despised one another, she would have never done this.

"Halt! In the name of the Wizard!" Gale Force guards are suddenly surrounding her, one of them grabbing Glinda around the waist and two grabbing Elphaba and pulling her backwards.

"Let me go!" Elphaba shouts, writhing beneath the guard's grips, because there was no way it was ending this way. She was not going to meet her demise in the middle of an Oz-forsaken cornfield.

"Let her go, I almost had her!" Glinda says, as the guard steps away from her and toward Elphaba, pointing a spear inches away from her face.

"Sorry it took us so long to get here miss," He says to Glinda.

"What?" Glinda stammers, "What do you mean? I didn't-" It takes a moment for Elphaba to understand what he means.

_No…_

Everything clicks into place then, every piece of the puzzle making perfect sense. Nessa's death was no accident, and it certainly wasn't an unexpected twister of fate. Glinda had some hand in it. She was so angry because of Fiyero that she-

"I can't believe you would sink this low!" Elphaba hisses, "To use my sister's death as a chance to capture me!"

"No, Elphie I never meant to-"

"No, of course you never!"

When Elphaba would look back on the moment later, first she would blame herself. She had, after all, wished Fiyero were with her. So maybe, in an odd, fateful way, it was her fault that Fiyero came to protect her.

"Let the green girl go!" Fiyero says, pointing a gun straight at the people pointing one at Elphaba, risking his life for her yet again.

"Fiyero, how in Oz?" Elphaba says, completely shocked. Fiyero looks right at her though, as if this is nothing, and maybe it isn't for him. She remembers what he told her just hours before. _We're going to get through this together._

"I said let her go!" Fiyero shouts, "or explain to all Oz how the Wizard's guards watched while Glinda the Good was slain."

"Fiyero, no," Glinda gasps.

Elphaba watches, eyes widened in disbelief, as Fiyero turns away from her and the guards and points the gun at Glinda. Elphaba knows and hopes and prays that Fiyero is doing nothing more than stalling so she can find a way to get away. She would much rather be captured by the Gale Force than live with the knowledge that she was responsible for causing Fiyero to do something so…wicked.

The second thing Elphaba would think, looking back, would be how slowly the moment that happened next seemed to pass. A younger Guard, brash and impatient and undoubtedly new to the Gale Force, does not wait. He lunges at Fiyero. Elphaba watches, in slow motion it seemed, as the gun in Fiyero's hands falls to the ground. A single shot rings out, echoing across the fields and causing the crows to flee better than any scarecrow ever could. It takes Elphaba a minute to realize what has happened. When she does, it takes all she has to keep from screaming.

Elphaba watches as Glinda falls to the ground, the front of her dress already covered with blood.

**Yes, that just happened. On a lighter note, sorry I cut out Fiyero swinging in on a vine. I was going to put it in, but it just felt a bit too theatrical for this. Okay now, a have a question if you don't mind. What are some of your favorite lines and or parts of this chapter? **

**Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed and added this to your favorites and followed this and all of those things. Whenever I get an email saying that someone has reviewed or followed or whatever, you all would not believe how happy it makes me! So thank you all so much!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry that this took so long, yet it is still so short. I also apologize for the cliffhanger at the end of this chapter. That is the last one for a while. **

**It's awesome to know that everyone is so concerned for Glinda's wellbeing. Also, the cabin that Elphaba, Fiyero, and Glinda go to is the same one from the Wizard of Oz. That could end up being very significant later. Hint. Hint. Hint. **

**Oh, and remember what it says it the description. This is an AU fanfiction. From this chapter forward, things change. Massively. Please suspend your Wicked-related belief for the duration of this fanfiction. **

**The Bridges You've Crossed  
A Wicked Fanfiction  
Chapter Three**

Elphaba is instantly shaking with rage, and feels magic coursing through her veins.

No one has the chance to move. Fiyero locks eyes with Elphaba. She knows that he understands what is about to happen. He was with her the last time something like this occurred, that day at Shiz, the day they saved the Lion cub. Magic is the way Elphaba has always reacted to fear or anger. Now though, for the first time, she is so grateful for it. Without it, the guards would capture her and Fiyero, and that cannot happen because somehow she knows that magic is the only way to save Glinda. She is the only one that can.

She can feel the magic leaving her, and she watches as the Gale Force Guards are catapulted backwards, falling to the ground unconscious just as Glinda had moments before. Immediately, both Elphaba and Fiyero stumble to their feet, running to Glinda. Elphaba watches as Fiyero frantically searches for Glinda's pulse, looking terrified and then relieved.

"She's alive, Elphaba. But-"

"We have to go," Elphaba finishes for him, not wanting to hear what he was really going to say. Instead, Elphaba fills in the blank on her own. Glinda is alive, but if Elphaba does not do something soon, the consequences will be unbearable.

Fiyero has already gathered Glinda in his arms. "Where?"

"I- I don't know. But…I have to do something; I have to save her Fiyero. She's my best friend."

She goes to where her broom had fallen on the ground, gripping it so tightly her knuckles turn white. "I need the Grimmerie. There has to be something there that can help her." The next part was going to be the hardest. "Could you go on take Glinda somewhere safe?" She didn't want to be apart from him. She has already lost her sister, and could lose her best friend. She doesn't want to lose him too. But, they can't all go on the broom, there's nothing else to do.

Fiyero nods, gathering Glinda in his arms. Elphaba's mind spins wildly, trying to think of somewhere safe, somewhere she can focus on saving the life of the only friend she has ever had. She remembers a cabin, on a more secluded part of the Yellow Brick Road. She stayed there a few nights, in the beginning after defying the Wizard. She was never discovered, and figures that it should be safe for them. At least for now.

She forces herself to stay calm and tell Fiyero the way to get there. She turns away when he leaves, unable to see him walking away from her. Then, Elphaba flies, higher and faster than she has ever flown before. She quickly reaches the place she was hiding, grabbing the Grimmerie and hugging it to her chest.

_It won't work, _a voice inside her tauntingly says. She has heard this many times in her life, before apply to Shiz, before rescuing the Lion cub, defying the Wizard and all that came with it.

"It will," She tells herself, flying into the air again. _There has to be something._ She thinks, clinging to every bit of hope she has.

The journey back to Munchkinland, back to Fiyero and Glinda, is, she thinks, surprised she can focus on anything else in her state of shock, nothing like the first time she flew. Then, it was the most exhilarating moment of her life. Now, it passes in a blur.

She reaches the cabin and goes right to Glinda. She flips through the Grimmerie, first finding a spell to heal the wound caused by the bullet. It works easily, but still Glinda doesn't stir.

Elphaba is almost sure her heart stops beating. Suddenly she remembers that Glinda hit her head after she fell. She's shaking, her mind overcrowding with all of the ways her best friend could be hurt.

"Is there anything I can do?" Fiyero asks.

Elphaba just shakes her head, because part of her remembers that she could blame him if she wanted. She told him not to come with her, and if he hadn't this wouldn't have happened. She opens the Grimmerie, flipping through it for a moment before finding a spell that she prays will work. She whispers the spell, over and over and over again until she thinks she'll never be able to do anything else

"Elphaba…?"

If he hadn't followed her, this wouldn't have happened…

"Fiyero, get out!" Elphaba screams, feeling instantly guilty. It is moments like this when Elphaba fully realizes why people believe her to be wicked. He leaves her alone, which is the last thing that she wanted and before she can even think of a way to tell him that Glinda's eyes flutter open.

Elphaba can finally breathe and is flooded with relief. Glinda is alive. Elphaba wonders if she can take this as a sign that her life will finally get better.

"Glinda," She says. "I'm so glad you're okay."

Glinda is staring right at Elphaba, but her eyes remain blank. "Who is Glinda?"


End file.
